The Royal Canadian Mint’s latest privy-marked series of Silver Maple Leaf (SML) bullion coins is on a wild roll.
The six-coin series is known as the Wild Canada series, and its second release – with the image of a roaring grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) engraved in place of the typical mint mark – has sold out of all 50,000 coins, said a representative from the Mint.
This 99.99 per cent pure silver coin features this image of a roaring grizzly bear instead of the traditional mint mark.
“Crafted of one troy ounce of 99.99 per cent pure silver, the Silver Maple Leaf is one of the world’s favourite silver bullion coins. The addition of intricately engraved privy marks and reverse proof finishes give a new level of exclusivity to the unrivaled purity and craftsmanship of the Mint’s iconic silver bullion coin.”
The series’ first release, which came late last year and featured a howling wolf privy mark, also sold out of all 50,000 coins. The third coin in the series will be issued in September (although it will have a 2017 year-date) and will feature a cougar privy mark. There will be another coin issued in 2017 (“Moose”) and two coins issued in 2018 (“Antelope” and “Wood Bison”).
The obverse of this SML features the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II.
The SML bullion coins were first issued in 1988; since this initial strike, the image of the sugar maple leaf on the reverse side has remained the same, although the Mint began using laser-engraved security features to fight counterfeiting last year. The coin’s obverse shows Susanna Blunt’s 2003 profile of Queen Elizabeth II, whose effigy is shown in right-profile relief alongside her name and the coin’s face value and year-date.